BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Down 56.3% in September

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 479,727 shares, a decline of 56.3% from the August 31st total of 1,098,660 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 649,468 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBAR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BBVA Banco Frances from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of BBAR opened at $12.53 on Wednesday. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $22.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.75 and its 200 day moving average is $16.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.93.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $716.56 million during the quarter. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 7.56%. Research analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BBAR. Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 2,847,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,446,000 after acquiring an additional 177,799 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the fourth quarter valued at $4,042,000. Channing Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the fourth quarter worth $507,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the second quarter worth $311,000. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the fourth quarter valued at $266,000.

BBVA Banco Frances Company Profile

BBVA Banco Francés, now operating as BBVA Argentina SA under the BBVA brand, is a banking institution serving individuals, businesses and corporate customers in Argentina. It is part of the Spanish BBVA Group, a global financial services organization.

The bank provides a range of retail and commercial banking products, including deposit accounts, personal and business loans, credit and debit cards, payment services, insurance and investment-related services. It also offers digital banking channels and financial solutions for companies and institutional clients.

The institution traces its history to Banco Francés del Río de la Plata, founded in Argentina in 1886.